Of Keys and Fire and Stalkers for Hire
by The Musings of a Muse
Summary: She paused still looking at the damaged flower. His last words echoed around her head forebodingly; when you figure everything out for yourself, don't be surprised when you learn that they're just using you, and remember I told you so, Lucy. I was right.
1. Ame Shojo

**Hello Peeps! I'm back with another Fanfic! To those of you who have also been reading any of my Naruto fanfics, sorry to say that I will be deleting them by the end of next week, I can't continue to write those horrible excuses for stories! But don't fret my lovelies! I will be rewriting them sometime soon (hopefully) and I will (also hopefully) be updating UDDWP (my bleach fanfic) soon.**

**Rambling aside, I've had this idea in my notebook for a LOOONG time. I was debating on whether or not to make it my own original story, but it just didn't work for the plot line I was weaving *grins*. Yeah, I made a plotline, me, the ultimate slacker. AND IT'S LIKE FOUR PAGES LONG! My friends tell me I need a life…**

**Koki Dei: That'd be because you do.**

**Ali: It's true, Kai. All you do is talk about your writing in school.**

**Me: So? Koki does it, and don't you try to deny it! Ichi does it too, and Ali, you're just kind of the oddball out of the group who just stares at us while we're rambling on and on and on…**

**Ali: *Glares at Kai***

**Me: What? 'S true, isn't it Koki?**

**Koki: Oh h*** no! You are NOT pulling me into this one! *whispers* Ali has Ichi-san on her side, and do you know how SCARY Ichi is when she gets like 'THAT'!**

**Me *sweatdrops* Oh yeah, she's worse than ERZA when she gets like 'THAT'…**

**Ali: I CAN hear you guys you know… *Koki and Kai ignore her* Ichi…**

**Ichi: What? I was sleeping…**

**Ali: They're ignoring me again *points to persons*, rambling about someone named Erza… and how you get like 'THAT'.**

**Ichi: Like what?**

**Ali: Not really sure, anywho, sense they aren't going to do the disclaimer, you wanna do it?**

**Ichi: *Lazily looks at Koki and Kai* No, I'ma going back to bed, g'night *walks away***

**Ali: *shrugs* Kaisuikage doesn't own Fairytail, if she did, then Romeo and Wendy would be together, Levi and Gajeel would be a couple, Erza and Jellal would be together and Jellal wouldn't be in jail, and finally, Natsu and Lucy would be the main couple. And obviously, this isn't what's happening in the story, so Kai doesn't own it.**

**Koki: Ali, don't forget how she'd butcher the story, she'd completely ruin the awesome plot line Hiro-sensei-sama has woven.**

**Me: I'm not THAT horrible of a writer…Am I? **

**Koki: Well, you're ok… Guys, tell Kai what you think of her writing, and if you don't read this, then shame on you! It you do read these ramblings of the authors, then leave a review saying MUSINGS somewhere in it. OH! And tell Kai if you think this she be a whole bunch of one shots, or an actual story, m'k?**

**Ali: YEAH! Do so please! And if this was the actual story, this would be the pilot chapter, aka, MUCH shorter than the rest, ok?**

**Me: Can they read now?**

**Koki & Ali: We've got nothing against it.**

**Me: Ok then, on with 'Of Keys and Fire and Stalkers for Hire'!**

Ever since I came to this Academy, I've kept myself inconspicuous to the other students. I didn't want to be found out to be _THE _Lucy Hearfilia, _THE _inheritee of a fortune fit for any king or queen. I didn't want to be _HER_. I just wanted to be the actual _ME_ that no one seemed to really understand. I suppose that's why as I sat here up on the rooftop in my blue and white school uniform.

It had just turned to spring, and it was a little chilly out, even here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on an Island a ways off coast from mainland Japan. A crisp breeze blew through the chilly atmosphere and stirred the patchwork of clouds in the sky that seemed to darkly promise rain later today.

A heavily wet scent hung in the air, smelling of rain and spring, calming my semi-frazzled nerves. Though it was already the second semester here in our little island academy, I still just didn't seem to fit in to the Academy. This notorious Academy where only the worst of the worst were kicked to for lack of a better explanation. Though I didn't really try or make an effort to fit in, I still think it would have been nice to have at least _someone _approach me while I was here.

To explain why I was 'here' would probably be a good idea, as known, I am the inheriter on the Hearfilia fortune, aka, a whole lot of money that my dad made with his business. My father and I aren't exactly on good terms you see, he's a prick. A BIG one. I can't stand his icy exterior, ever since my mother died a few years back, he's been like this; never having time for me, never coming home for days, leaving for business trips for months without returning, forgetting he even HAD a daughter, etcetera, etcetera. So, one day I got sick of his attitude. I went rebel, I denounced my family name and fortune, left the house without looking back, travelled around Japan for a while doing little odd jobs to get me by and such. Unfortunately for me, the time I had actually gotten my courage up to take off had been when my father was on a business trip, meaning that when he got home to find me gone, it infuriated him to no end.

Needless to say, I was quickly caught for my actions, stupid father and his stupid connections to the world, I KNEW I should have taken that plane to Australia… Anyhow, my father decided that I needed to be taught a lesson after seeing how independent I had become. He had me pack my bags and shipped me off to this un-named island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan to attend R.E.B.E.L. Academy. Basically, it's where people who can't behave anywhere else or who went rebel with their own celebrity parents went to.

R.E.B.E.L. stands for The Rebel's Etiquette for the Barbaric and Estranged Liabilities. Yeah, that's right; all of us here are 'liabilities'. We're either too dangerous for our parents' reputations, or just normal kids who are too dangerous in general. For the whole 'barbaric' thing, I'm stumped there; most of us have had _some_ type of manners or etiquette class. 'Estranged'? Yes, most of us are strange here, but not overly so! The rest I'm fairly sure you can figure out.

R.E.B.E.L. is broke up into several different 'dorms' or parts of the Academy, there's Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, Grimore Hearts, Cat Shelter, Fairy Tail (that's me), and then several others that I don't know the name of…

Anyways, back to my life, not to sound self-centered or anything.

So, father caught me, I was shipped off to a remote island with a bunch of wacked up weirdos for company, and am not freezing my but off here on the roof, yup, that sounds about right. So, back to describing the cold, cold spring here.

There wasn't any sun to behold, no sunny warmth to lift my low, low, LOW spirits. So basically, one could say that I felt like crap. My hair was a mess from the humidity, my eyes had dark purple rings under them from many a sleepless nights spent studying and my eyes were red from crying fairly frequently. Though I pride myself in being a pretty tough girl, I couldn't help but feel betrayed by the very last of my family that I had.

So as I hugged my knees to my chest, bare toes dangling over the edge of the roof while my shoes and socks were placed next me, I watched the normal lunch time routine going on, I could see the brawls starting up within my little wing of the Academy, the normal ones between us and other wings, mostly Grimore Hearts though, I'm not sure why, but most of the people here hated the people there… Ah, oh well, it's entertaining to watch.

Giggles erupted from me as two of the more notorious boys from my grade openly started to throw punches at each other good naturedly. Their names were Gray Fullbuster and Natsu Dragoneel. Supposedly, their dads were best friends and they had been best friends since they were little, but watching them, you would never have known. They fought ceaselessly, punches, kicks, snarky comments, you name it. Perhaps the only person that could make them behave even for a little while was Erza Scarlet, the famed she-demon of Fairy Tail.

Here she was now; the scary read-head sure had impeccable timing. I laughed openly after unfurling myself from my hunkered position, clutching my gut as tears streamed out of my eyes while Erza chased the two boys around who were still managing to somehow fight each other off as well as the she-demon.

Grinning broadly, I fell onto my back, letting my laughter dissolve into hiccups, and my tears turn from joyous to sad in a matter of seconds. My playful grin slipped from my face replaced by a slightly open mouthed frown as I looked towards the sky for help.

"Why is the world so cruel? What have I ever done to deserve this type of treatment from you, God? Did I do something in a past life or something? Not that I believe in reincarnation or anything, it's just easier to accept that idea than the idea that I was just the victim of a randomly placed whim of fate." Whispering my words to the sky, I watched as the sky rumbled and as a drop of water land on my lips, seeping into the moist crevice and filling my mouth with a bittersweet taste. Throwing an arm over my eyes to block the rain that was sure to fall and to cover my tears, I started to silently sob. Up and down went my chest, a rapid rhythm that beat my ribs to pieces. "I hate this; I absolutely despise this weakness that I feel. I'm going to break, going to break wide open for the entire world to see. I don't know what to do! Please, someone," I begged silently to no one in particular, unknowing of a pink head of hair that was right outside the stair door, "please, just tell me what I should do. Please, please, help my hold myself together…Mom…Help me…help me.…" Letting the rain fall on my exposed body, I sobbed and sobbed, choosing to ignore the fact that I may get sick from this rain the relentlessly pounded my body clean from my sins.

I never did hear the stair well door close behind me with all the thunder, I didn't hear the punch that hit the corridor wall as he walked down the steps, I didn't know that he understood, or the fact that he had been watching me sense I came here, watching and waiting to see the real person I was. I never heard the frustrated cusses he let out; never heard how his back hit the door that opened up to the west wing's hallway. I never heard how sad he sounded when he talked about me, when he remembered.

"Dang-it Lucy, why did you have to show this side of you today? Why can't you just be happy today of all days? It isn't every day that you turn eighteen 'ya know…"

So, I guess that's why when there was a towel waiting at the bottom of the steps for me and a hastily scribbled note with a phone number on it, that I texted that message like it asked.

_Hello, my name is Lucy. Thanks for the towel by that way; how did you know that I was going to be all wet?_

I didn't really expect an answer, maybe it was just some boy looking for a date with me, it had happened to me before. I really didn't expect an answer; I was used to being disappointed by things like this. Maybe that's when I started to trust this boy, when I got an answer back, when I wasn't disappointed.

_**Hello little Ame Shojo*, you can call me Taiyo*. I knew, because I know everything about you. Happy eighteenth birthday, Lucy Heartfilia.**_

**So, love it? Hate it? Tell me~! I wanna know! But seriously guys, if you want me to make this an actual story, then I will, if you want to be a bunch of one-shots, then it will be. I am here to serve the people, so serve the people I shall! Oh, and do you know what Natsu called himself and what he called Lucy? Drop me a review with your answer and as to WHY he called her that and if I think it's pretty close to what I had in mind, I'll dedicate a one-shot to the pairing and plot line of your choice! **

**O.M.G. I went to see the Hunger Games today, it was AWESOME! Sure, it was a little bit different from the book, but not a whole lot. And, guess what, HG sold more pre-movie tickets than **_**Twilight! **__TWILIGHT! _**So suck it vampire fans, and stop the whole Team Peeta team Gale thing, if you've read the book, then you know that Gale's a jerk and who Katniss ends up with! So just Cut. It. OUT!**

**Ok, my rant is complete.**

**Oh, and if you like poetry or vignettes like the book 'House on Mango Street' (which I don't own, I don't own Hunger games either, BTW) then check out my other profile, 'The Musing of a Muse' on FictionPress, I'm starting my own little collection of them! Any-who, I have decided to expand the NaLu fanbase, so here it is! PLEASE R&R DON'T CARE IF IT'S CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISM! **


	2. Only Me

**Hello again! OMG you guys! TWELVE people have liked this story do far, TWELVE! To many of you, that's quite a small number, but to me, it's a fairly big accomplishment! M'k, though I'm happy with the response, I wish you guys would have given me more reviews, I know more than three of you read it. BTW **_**thank you**_** RedRose43, Koki-Dei and LittleWarriorInGreen for your reviews, I look forward to your next reviews and such, also, for being my first three reviewers, you guys can help me choose a prompt to use for chapter, such as 'sick day', 'first kiss', ect., ect.. I'll squeeze them into the story sooner or later! Ah, and the contest from the first chapter is still up too guys, figure out what 'ame shojo' and 'taiyo' mean and why Natsu said that to Lucy and I'll give you a one-shot, there are a few regulations, but, you'll know those when you answer! Pay attention to other contests and such in this story and PLEASE read these little notes, they are important! **

**Ok, so I found Natsu and Lucy's perfect song! It's called Think Twice by Eve 6 (don't own it), it's awesome! I'm looking for other couple pairings too, so if you have them, shoot me a review or PM.**

**I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.**

**I don't own Alone either; it was by one of my role models in the way of depressing poetry, Mr. Edgar Allan Poe.  
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><p>"From childhood's hour I have not been as others were — I have not seen as others saw — I could not bring My passions from a common spring — From the same source I have not taken My sorrow — I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone — And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone — <em>Then<em> — in my childhood — in the dawn Of a most stormy life — was drawn From ev'ry depth of good and ill The mystery which binds me still — From the torrent, or the fountain — From the red cliff of the mountain — From the sun that 'round me roll'd In its autumn tint of gold — From the lightning in the sky As it pass'd me flying by — From the thunder, and the storm — And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view —"As she finished reciting her poem for English class, Lucy felt the tell-tale signs of embarrassment light up her face as the heat started to crawl up her neck and down into her ears. Though everyone in class had been told to pick out a piece of poetry, one that they thought represented themselves, Lucy felt that she had let people know a little _too_ much about herself with this particular piece of poetry.

Even her literature teacher, Mirajane, was giving her a somewhat odd look. Many of the kids in class had followed suit, and much to Lucy's disappointment, she was unable to fight of the cherry red coloring that had now taken over her face. Eyes wide and face aflame, Lucy dropped her gaze and scurried to her seat, allowing for the next person in line to get up and move to the front-center of the room.

Plopping down in the hard, blue chair, Lucy collapsed her head into her awaiting arms, her gaze still wide and completely frozen on one part of her desk. Tracing the contours in the knot of wood, Lucy blocked out the rest of the poems that were being recited. Intrigued by the different flecks of color in the wood, Lucy never registered the soft vibration in her pocket, continuing to trace the wood and follow the colors; Lucy was surprised to even see amber in the wood. Not sure to where the wood pattern was taking her, she followed and ended up seeing the very plain fabric of her blue and white uniform skirt. Now watching with interest pointed at her skirt, Lucy finally felt the slight buzz going through the fabric of said skirt. Lifting her head from her arms, she shifted her chocolate from where she knew the pocket in the folds of the skirt was, back to her teacher and the person in front who was reciting 'Fire and Ice' by Robert Frost. She then looked around the classroom, noticing the tired yawns and utterly bored looks on the faces of her classmates she couldn't help but smile.

Finding that the buzz in her pocket had become a little more demanding to her ears, she shifted her posture to the point where she was nearly reclining in her uncomfortably hard and unforgiving school chair, one arm stock straight and holding on to the under-side of the chair with her palm flat on the seat of it, and the other trifling through her pocket searching for her phone while her eyes stayed trained on Mirajane. Finding her small white flip phone in the depths of her accursed pocket, Lucy pulled it out, visibly relaxing while she tried to shut off the now irritating and worrisome buzz.

Finally flipping it open to read whatever message was sent to her – selfishly hoping that it was indeed 'Taiyo' who had sent it – she was quiet honestly surprised to see three messages awaiting her attention. Clicking on the first one that had been sent, she realized that it was indeed from Taiyo who had sent it, sent it before class had started even.

_Hey Luce, how's the little Ame Shojo doing this morning? Didn't catch a cold I hope. Even the sun can't reach where it can't shine! So watch your health, ok? Be careful, you might not care about what happens to you, but there are others that do. – (today I'm) Urushi_

Smiling when she read the message, Lucy continued to search through the other ones, frowning when she came across the last one, the second one being a simple reminder about a homework assignment that was at the end of the week.

_Lucy, do you really believe that you're like that? I don't. Sure, you can be a bit strange, but I don't think that you're removed from the rest of us, not at all. Smile, Luce. Smile. I may not be able to see you to your face right now, but I promise that I can help you in any way I can. Be happy, Luce. Be careful Lucy, don't do any stupid with your life ya little weirdo. – Urushi* _

_P.S. Who is the demon in your sky, Kakushi Shojo*?_

Freezing in a way that made it seem as if she couldn't breathe, the former heiress took shallow gulping breaths. Just how much did this guy know? About her, about her life, and just how perceptive was he, to understand what she had found in the poem for herself? Shaking a little, the young Hearfilia felt the blood drain from her face. Standing from her chair, she carefully made her way to the door frame, ignoring the startled look from many of her classmates gave her. One particularly hard stare at her back seemed to sear her skin. Tensing her shoulder and back muscles in response to the scrutinizing stare, Lucy mumbled a quick excuse and hastily exited the room, knowing that had she stayed any longer she would have looked at _that _person. _The _person who knew her, her Urushi Taiyo, the person who knew her so well, but whom she knew nothing of. Before, the thought of someone who wasn't a friend or an enemy knowing all about her was comforting, but know, just after a single sentence, it scared her. To have someone know the very thought process of her mind was a little much to take in. Someone who watched her enough to see her fake smiles that she put up, that kind of person scared her. She wanted to stay as she was; someone invisible. She didn't want her demons to reappear. She _needed _this simplicity.

Tears came from her eyes, this was her last chance, her very last chance to change the way her life was lived. Her father said that it would only be possible to change her life if she could remain invisible and become someone other than Lucy Hearfilia, that she would only be able to amount to anything in his eyes if she was able to make herself amount to nothing in anyone else's eyes. She ran to the infirmary, knowing without a doubt that the nurse that normally worked there, Kaya, would no doubt be out for her normal break time by now. Rushing past the library, Lucy never noticed a head of cornflower blue hair and curious yet seemingly angry brown eyes watching her from behind a pair of red reading glasses and a stack of books. Said blue haired girl watched the blond's progress down the hall at her hurried pace, until she disappeared into the infirmary around the corner.

"Gajeel…"

"Yeah, I saw her. Freaking stupid Salamander…what'd he say to 'er?" A boy with many piercings on his face and a scruffy school uniform unbuttoned several buttons too many opened a single eye from the chair her occupied behind the short-statured blue-haired girl. Unfolding his arms from under and behind his head, the one named Gajeel Redfox gave off an eerie smirk, "Hey, shorty, does this mean that I can cave in that lizard's ugly mug?"

Exasperated, the blue haired girl shut the book she had previously been reading on the several ghost stories about the island on which R.E.B.E.L was found, "Gajeel! How many times do I have to tell you? My name is Levy! Le-vy!" Sounding out the two syllables in her name, Levy McGarden whisked off her glasses and shook her hair out of the silver white bandana she had it tied up in. Smirking at the disinterested gaze of her partner, she raked her fingers through her unruly hair, twisting her wrist and moving her fingers at an attempt to somewhat loosen the knots. "I don't really care Gajeel, we've tried talking to Natsu about being careful about what he says around Lucy after he said that she was the next target for our group, but he doesn't seem to listen. Maybe you guys need to have one of those 'guy talks' that Elfman is always barking about, just keep me, Mira, Canna, Juvia, and Bisca out of it."

"Yeah, whatever shorty, just _stay_ out of the way!" Laughing at the way Levy rolled her eyes at his comment, Gajeel smirked, putting his arms against his knees, elbows pointed out, he turned serious, smirk turning deadly and eyes turning hard and frightening. "Besides, it's about time The Salamander paid for destroying the rest of my gang from the Phantom branch of this school; I've wanted a rematch…"

Banging his forehead against the lunch room table, Natsu let out a very uncharacteristic sigh. Letting his arms hand from his shoulder sockets limply, he ignored the enveloping murmur of the lunch room gossip and waited for the rest of his gang from the Fairy Tail branch to catch up with him. Running air past his lips and making them vibrate with noise, he watched the door, hoping against hope to see a familiar head of blond hair duck through it and head for her normal corner just to his front right. When the lunch rush settled down and he still hadn't seen her, he tilted his head so his cheek was pressed flat against the table. Closing his eyes and sinking deeper in his withdrawn mood, Natsu's ears twitched at the sound of lunch trays hitting the table just opposite of him.

"Seriously, Natsu, if you're really that worried about her, then go find her and apologize." Acting as if it was the simplest thing in the world, Gray Fullbuster gave a – in Natsu's opinion – disgusting look of pity and something close to concern? Nah, it had to be something else, Natsu quickly decided. Finally settling to just ignore his enemy-turned-best-friend, Natsu gave a devil-may-care look to anyone who would look at him. Exhaling deeply, Gray shot his best friend a withering look. "You really are impossible, Natsu. Now what would Lisanna say if she were here?" Feeling his already strained emotions snap at the mention of his previous childhood sweetheart, Natsu lifted his arms and in one swift movement was holding the collar of Gray's shirt in his left fist, his right cocked back behind his head with his knuckles cracking. A dangerous look took residence in Natsu's eyes his breath seethed in a way that wasn't normal for the happy go lucky teen. Ignoring Gray's protests to the situation he was now placed in, Natsu tightened his grip on his collar and got ready to throw his arm at the other teen's face.

Losing his resolve to punch his best friend Natsu started to drop his fist, and Gray could feel the aura of anger that had surrounded him quickly dissipate. Gray briefly wondered if brining up Lisanna was a bad idea on his part. Gray analyzed the look on Natsu's face, seeing the pain, anger and retry that was solidly carved there, "You're trying to use Lucy as a replacement for Lisanna, aren't you, Natsu?"

"I thought that we agreed that none of us would ever speak of Lisanna again, Gray! I didn't do anything to Lisanna; it's this freaking school and its curse! I won't _ever _let it take one of my nakama again!" Throwing Gray's collar from his grasp, he dropped his head and stepped away from the table, nearly bumping into the rest of his group that had been waiting to sit down before his outburst. "Listen, I just need to go cool down. I'm skipping out for the rest of the day; I'll see you when you get back to the dorm." With that announcement, Natsu left the now silent and staring lunchroom in his wake. Walking back towards the door, he paused right outside of it, in the middle of the hallway. Not turning around, he sighed and ran a hand through his unruly spikes, making them even messier than they were.

"Natsu, she's in the infirmary, if you want to go see her."

"Levy, you know that I'm not ready to tell her who I am yet – Levy?" After turning around her saw that the tiny girl had already disappeared from his presence and gone back to lunch with her little group made out of some of his minor members, except for herself and Gajeel, there was the track star, Sarusuke "Jet", and the ecology ace, Droy. Reflecting back on his meeting with them, he wondered why they still refused to reveal their last names, though he shouldn't be surprised, with the school that they went to and all.

Taking Levy's words to heart, Natsu sighed and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants and trudged down the hallway, trying to delay the inevitable for as long as possible by taking the longest route possible to the infirmary without running into anyone; quite a feat for even one such as Natsu himself.

Pausing at the infirmary door, Natsu braced himself for the revealing of his identity to her, he _really _didn't want her to hate him or to run away like Lisanna had so long ago, he didn't want her to fall into the same mistake that Lisanna had. Resting his head against the door, he put one shaky hand on brass door knob, inhaling and exhaling slowly to calm himself; he wasn't sure how he was going to face the rejection if that was how she chose it to go.

Turning the cold knob in his sweaty hand, he closed his eyes and took one last, long, lung filling breath before opening his eyes again and stepping into the room, what he found shocked him with relief

Lucy laid on one of the hospital beds right under the open window, a peaceful, unguarded smile on her sleeping lips. Her eyes were closed and he could see the lids that, unlike for many other girls, were not colored or sparkled with make-up. A small breeze blew through the window and stirred her hair, making a fee strands of it fall on her closed eyelids.  
>The mid-afternoon sun glimmered in her hair like he knew no artificial light could, turning her platinum locks into a deep, rich gold. Her eyelashes fluttered in her sleep and her arms curled into her chest reflexively in response to the dream that ruled her subconscious. Pale skin was left uncovered for the chilly April air to caress and rosy lips were parted in a smile to catch the surrounding air around her.<p>

"Oh my gosh," Natsu whispered, all his anxiety and fear turning into a stone cold weight of exhaustion, "she's freaking asleep! Asleep!" slumping down to his knees, he put a hand over his left eye, tilting to look at the white-washed ceiling above him. Feeling a particularly strong and cold gust of air weave it's way into the room, Natsu tilted his head back down far enough and fast enough to catch Lucy shiver from it, disrupting her peaceful visage. Frowning, Natsu found with little resistance in his mind that he didn't like seeing her like that, he much preferred to see the peaceful Lucy compared to this shivering, tight faced girl.

Standing slowly, he quietly made his way over to her in a few quick strides from the door. Nearly tripping on her shoes that she must have haphazardly kicked off, Natsu whispered a few choice words of profanity under his breath, sparing her loafers a searing look. Now at the end of the infirmary bed, Natsu grabbed the thin sheets and pulled them up and over Lucy, letting them drift under her chin. Finding that her shivers ceased and her face smoothed out, Natsu grinned down at her. Finding himself thinking back on Gray's earlier question as to why he wanted Lucy in their group, he found that he couldn't come up with an answer.

"Luce," he whispered under his breath, his hand twitching at his side as another breeze blew more hair onto the face of the sleeping girl, "am I just using you? Or have I actually fallen for you so fast? I'm no good with these kind of things, Lucy, this is where you're gonna have to help me out a bit." seeing her hair in her face proved to be too distracting he convinced himself, he was not moving it out of her face just because he wanted to touch her.

Doing as his whims commanded, Natsu lifted his hand and in a uncharicteristicly gentle movement, brushed the hair way from her eyes. Grinning broader at the feeling of her eyelashes tickling the back of his hand, he froze when he felt her breath washing up his wrist. Gulping down any of the moisture in his suddenly dry mouth, Natsu tried his best to fend of the blossoming red flower that started to grow up his neck to his cheeks. Barely daring to breath, his eyes widened at the realization of being unable to move, yet as soon as her breath hitched just a little from her dream, his hand was miraculously at his side again, still tingling with the feeling of her breath on his hand.

Content with just watching her sleep, he couldn't help the goofy grin that came to his face when she started to pout. Awkwardly patting her head, he whispered to her the same thing he had put in his text earlier that day, "Smile Luce, smile."

And as his world seemed to fall right into place, the sound of a throat being cleared made him turn towards the door where principal Makarov stood. Grin falling because of the serious look on the old man's face, Natsu could only wait to hear what the man had to say.

Sighing after looking from Natsu to Lucy, Makarov couldn't help but shake his head, "You have to worst of luck, boy. This shouldn't have to happen to a person once, nevermind twice. Natsu, the school has made it's decision, Lucy is the next chosen."

His hand froze on Lucy's hair, and his eyes widened at the new found knowledge. "No...Ji-chan, no! It can't have Lucy too! It already took Lisanna, why does it have to be Lucy?" Looking down at the sleeping girl next to him, Natsu suddenly felt sick. Swiftly retracting his hand from her head, Natsu rigidly walked out the door, a sheer look of determination set on his face. After Natsu disappeared around the corner, Makarov glanced back at the sleeping Lucy.

"I was hoping that you would be the one to mend his heart, and he yours, child. Yet I suppose that no one gets that happy ending like they plan, ne?" and with that one, last sad look at the oblivious Lucy Heartfilia, Makarov walked away. But Natsu hadn't given up yet, for when Lucy woke up later that day, a new message awaited her:

_Lucy, whatever you do, never leave Natsu Dragoneel's sight for the rest of the year, he'll protect you when I can't. Please do this Lucy, I won't ever ask anything of you again. – Nakama_

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><p><strong>Whew! Finished! Sorry that it's not longer guys, but that's just how it is! Please R&amp;R and let me know how it is! I'm currently looking for a beta as well, I'm not the best with spelling or grammar, so I hope someone else is!<strong>

**Time for reviews!**

**RedRose43: lol so glad you like it! By just you request (and my mind which won't stop pilling ideas) I will be making a story out of this one! I love reviews like yours, they're probably the only reason I continue writing and posting, keep it up!**

**Koki-Dei: Koki-chan! You're finally on! Yeah, I know, my other writings are totally suckish, so here I am trying to improve. Ah, well, I think that it's working well! lol yeah! You, Ari, Ichi and I are musing people, I prefer to call them ramblings, but whatever floats your boat!**

**LittleWarriorInGreen: Glad to know that I could trap with the start of my story! I've been working on more interesting beginnings because I find it hard to start all my stories, once I get writing I can keep on going, but I just have to start it! Yup, this is goin to be a story, even if updates are a little slow, but Spring Break is literally a day away, so I will get some chapters up! I might add a fantasy element to the story, something with the curse of the school and my own take on the whole Lisanna thing. If you have any suggestions, by all means, drop me a line.**

**Well, there's the second chapter, I'm a little iffy about it...Are you guys? Idk, just seemed...a little too much OOC, il try to fix that in my next few chapters!**


	3. Taiyou no Hana

**Sorry I was so late you guys! I had a bit of writers block and some motivational issues for this chapter. But, I'm back, and I haven't deleted (or discontinued) this story! Yay! Anyways, thank you for all the reviews and favorites! Keep it up you guys! And if you have a scene that you want in this story, or a prompt, then leave me a review and I'll fit it in cause I'm quickly running out of ideas…Oh, and the contest for the first chapter will only be going on until the next chapter, on the next chapter, the winner will be posted. So far, only RedRose43 has entered and will win by default if no decides to challenge her. So I'll give you a hint; think Bleach (not mine). Ichigo and Rukia, the rain disappearing, that kind of thing! I'm looking for a deep answer here people, so give it your all, ok?**

**Kai: This is when the 'stalker' part of the title comes in to play *laughs***

**Lucy: You're almost as freaky as the rest of the people I know…*creeps away from Kai***

**Kai: *gasps* I resent that! *puts hand over her heart* I am the freaks of all freaks, the weirdest of all weirdos, and the creepiest of all the creepers! *pauses* That last one didn't sound right…**

**Lucy: No really you idiot! You just called yourself a creeper to the entire World-Wide Web!**

**Kai: Geeze... someone's in a bad way this afternoon… Did Natsu burn your apartment down or something?**

**Lucy: *sulks* No…**

**Kai: Did he destroy another town?**

**Lucy: No…**

**Kai: *eyes get wide* Did he… did **_**you**_**… Oh! Judas Maud you two! Really?**

**Lucy: *gives strange look* What is wrong with that head of yours?**

**Kai: *laughs hysterically* Too many things for any one person to know!**

**Lucy: All righty then… Wait, what did you mean earlier? *narrows eyes***

**Kai: Erm… *coughs* Eh-heh… ON WITH THE STORY!**

**Lucy: KAI!**

**I don't own Fairy Tail, or anything else of the like, I wish I did, but I don't.**

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><p>Ever since Lucy had gotten the text from Taiyo, she had been more than apprehensive to go to school again. Again meaning that she had been avoiding school for the past few days, and because she lived in the dorms, it was quite the feat to be able to hide for roughly three days. So, it was now day four, and someone was in her house.<p>

A bang echoed through Lucy's dorm as multiple swear words accompanied the metallic clang of falling pots and pans – amongst various other cooking utensils – came crashing down on the hard linoleum floor tiles. From the place in which she was hiding, the bathroom, Lucy could only think of the horrendous creature that awaited her right outside the solid oak door and brass lock. A much louder crash of a falling ceramic vase suddenly made the oak door seem not-so solid and the brass lock seem not-so, well, _locked _– for what else does one do with a lock? Yet another sound of shattering glass made Lucy cringe, there went the flowers she had just picked the other day.

"Sh– OW! – I mean, shoot! Screw it Shorty, if Flame-brain wants her back _this _bad he can come in this godd – OW! – Er, _godforsaken_ dorm himself! Come on Bookworm, why do ya keep hittin' me every time I swear? It's fu– OW! – _freaking _annoying!" A course voice sounded just outside the bathroom door, one like metal and a rough wild streak the Lucy thought sounded some-what familiar. Tempting as it was to go out of her little 'sanctuary' to find out if it really was the people she thought it was, a shadow just under the frame of the door stopped that idea before it got any more suggestive to her, "I mean honestly with all the shi– OUCH! CUT IT OUT! – _crap _that I put up with for Salamander, this is just insane! This is way beyond asking for a favor, bas– OW! Hell, woman, you punch harder than most guys I know! Fine, that _moron _is asking for something that's a borderline crime! There, I didn't swear. Didn't that make you happy, Utsukushi-hime*?" Lucy couldn't help the rue filled grin the spread across her face, there was only one person on earth who had such a mouth, and only one more who could get away with hitting said person.

"I'm never happy, Kemono-kun*, only content." Standing up from the slick bottom of the white bathtub she had regrettably hidden in, Lucy listened on with interest. Levy McGarden was one of the only semi-normal people in the Fairy Tail Gang, or just the FTG, she would have been completely normal, had it not been for the one person she had chosen to be her partner in the Gang, Gajeel Redfox. The tall boy with his many piercings was quite the intimidating figure; especially to Lucy Hearfilia, a girl who had had little to no contact with other people her own age until she came to the Academy. As scary as he was, Gajeel was also just a big softie that liked to, of all things, _sing_, and though he's never openly admitted it, everyone in the FTG knew.

Levy, on the other hand, had a very sweet disposition, most of the time. She had one hell of a temper was only rivaled by her height, so in other words, short. Her cornflower blue hair gave her a pixie like air around her, and her coffee brown eyes always widened right when she needed them to, to the point where even an ex-Phantom Gang member broke when she took out their secret power of 'I'm just a little girl who can't do anything, so you'll help me, right?'. It was the undoing of most of the people from the Fairy Tail branch, and everyone knew to beat a hasty retreat whenever that look came around, though it seemed that Erza refused to call it anything less than a 'tactical regrouping', she too was affected by the innocent look.

"Really, Utsukushi-hime? Then all the times I've you smile, it hasn't been whole-heartedly? Such a shame, Shorty. Here I was thinking that I was the only one that could make you smile like that." Lucy could almost hear the triumphant smirk coloring the dark haired teen's voice; Levy sure knew how to set herself up!

"Gajeel! Lucy could be here anywhere and you'll pulling jokes like _that_? I have half a mind to hit you again!" Lucy grinned broadly at the other girl's statement, she was beyond embarrassed at the vulgar acts her companion pulled on a normal basis, at least this one wasn't as bad as a few Lucy had heard before, those had made her face flush an unhealthy crimson for days afterwards. Once again stepping towards the door, Lucy couldn't help but think of the look on the 'stalkers' that the kid nick-named 'Salamander' had sent after her once she opened the door and burst out laughing in their faces. Gathering her courage to open the door, Lucy's ears perked at the queer laugh she heard come from the other side of the door, it sounded something like a 'gi-hi'.

"So, Short-stuff, you're telling me that I'm aloud to find Bunny Girl by any means necessary, correct?" Lucy suddenly got the feeling that, once again, the door in front of her was transparent – and very much so – to the metal-inlaid FTG member in front of her. A pause followed Gajeel's statement, and Lucy could just see the cornflower haired girl gaping like a fish at the abrupt change in subject.

"Y-yeah, I g-guess so…" An ominous feeling hung over Lucy's head as a small crack that sounded suspiciously like the crack of knuckles made its way to her ears. _Oh no, he's not gonna… _a bang made Lucy back up reflexively as shatter marks started to run crisscross over her door, _oh, yeah, he's gonna._ One last bang was heard over Levy's sputtering protests, and Lucy's door came tumbling down from its broken hinges. Staring in shock, Lucy still had her arm extended to open the door, but now that the door was lying on the white tiles of her bathroom floor, it was a pretty fruitless act.

Staring at the perpetrators who had just demolished her bathroom door, Lucy couldn't help but feel a faint twinge of red-hot anger at Gajeel, were _all_ guys this inconsiderate? _Not all guys, Taiyo was a little hyper, but not inconsiderate. Taiyo—_quickly cutting off her thought process, Lucy decided that she did _not _need to deal with her love life at this particular moment in her 'living' life. Her eyes darted from the door to the – once again – bickering people right outside of it. It would have been quite comical, the little bluenette yelling up at the tall raven-head while shaking her fist as the taller boy towered over her with his hands on his hips.

"Gajeel! What was that for? Now we're gonna have to pay for it!"

"Whatever, you told me to find Blondie, so I did. Come on, let's drag her to school, let Salamander see that she's fine; let her do whatever the hell she wants after that! But I just wanna get back to my lunch! I barely ate anything because of our little 'stalking' adventure!"

"She's important! You heard what Na-er, _Salamander,_ said about her! Either way, he's gonna make us do a whole lot more '_adventures_' like this to make sure Lucy doesn't go anywhere! We're not in Magnolia any more, Gajeel, you know that! She's important if we want to stay here or get anywhere else ever again!" The anger that had been boiling inside Lucy dissipated with speed that surprised even her. What did they mean when they said that she was important and was needed for something or another? Dropping her arm to her side once more, she let it hang limply there as she thought, it made sense now. Why people were taking notice of her more often, why Taiyo had started to message her almost every day, why Gajeel and Levy were here looking for her; oh, yeah, speaking of which…

"Um…Hi. I'm Lucy and you guys are Gajeel and Levy, right? I know this is kind of weird, but I have a question, HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET INTO MY DORM?" Both of the said people stopped, turned and faced the fuming blond in front of them, Gajeel pointed to the window, clearly indicating that they had come inside from the window, "Well, why didn't you just use the door? That's what it's for! You use a door to go _in _and _out_ of places, not windows!"

"Oi! The door was _locked _Blondie! It's not my fault we had to come in through the window! Natsu—oops…" Realizing his mistake in saying their 'employers' name, Gajeel quickly paused, already rolling his eyes before Levy could go off on him.

"Idiot! We weren't supposed to say his name!"

"Well, she wouldn't have even known that there was anything suspicious about the situation even if we did let on the he was behind all of this! But now that we freaked out about it, she knows there's something suspicious!"

"I know that, Gajeel," rubbing her temples, Levy seemed to cave in while agreeing to Gajeel's statement, "besides…_I'm _supposed to be the smart one…" adding the last statement under her breath, Levy as well as Lucy knew that Gajeel had heard, though he seemed to ignore the statement in favor of turning back to Lucy's direction.

"Let's go Blondie. I have lunch to eat still before classes start because my Spartan-of-a tutor won't let me skip any classes anymore."

"It's for your own good, Gajeel."

"How is learning _good_? The more you learn, the more you know, that's a given, but the more you _know _the more you _forget_! So the more you _forget _the less ya _know_! So why should I learn? Once we get back to Magnolia, I won't need to know this crap!"Lucy decided that she was going to make herself heard again once the married couple was done bickering, but before that, she noticed that both Gajeel and Levy had said something about 'Magnolia' and 'getting back to it', whatever that meant. Maybe it was the town that they had come from? But Lucy knew that there weren't any towns in Japan with the name Magolia, were they perhaps exchange students? Levy certainly didn't _look_ Japanese, and Gajeel looked Japanese even less than she did. Maybe they were Americans? That would explain the many piercings and the blue hair **(A/N: Not hitting on Americans, I am one, but you have to agree that we are a bit more liberal like that)**. Yet they still knew fluent Japanese! Lucy felt a headache starting to form; this was way too complicated to figure out by herself.

"Learning _is _important, Gajeel! Why do you think I was the one to figure out where we were in the first place?" Ah, the bickering was back.

"Feh, I don't wanna argue with you any more Shorty, I just wanna go eat my freaking lunch!"

"Then go eat your stupid lunch! I can take Lucy back to school without your help!"

"Fine then! See if I care!"

"Um…Guys?" Trying to get arguing people's attention had never seemed to be so hard before.

"You don't care about anything! All you want to do is go back to Magnolia so you can blow things up without any repercussions!"

"So what if I do? It's better than sittin' here all day doing nothing but stare out the window!"

"Guys…" Oh well, what did Lucy expect? A different outcome? Not a chance…

"For your information, learning is quite interesting!"

"Yeah, when hell freezes over it will be."

"GUYS!" The room froze, and Lucy was happy that her roommate wasn't home to hear the commotion that everyone was making in her absence. Lucy was fairly certain that eighth-grader* Wendy Marvell would be shocked beyond words at the turn this conversation had just taken. The dark blue-haired girl really didn't like conflict, and Lucy guessed that was the reason why the two got along so well, "Ok, so what in the world is going on? If you want me to go back to school, then so be it, but I want a reason before I agree to anything more, got it?" Both people nodded, their mouths still open to argue their next point across, "Now, I want one person to explain everything to me, Levy, you first. Gajeel, you can tell me the details you believe Levy left out, ok?" Clearing her throat, the bluenette straightened herself out and brushed the inexistent dust off of her school uniform.

"Well," trilling the word, Levy fidgeted, wanting to avoid the conversation as much as possible, but knowing that it was _im_possible to do so, "you see, Natsu got a text from a person who called himself 'Taiyo', and several other names I can't remember, saying that he had to watch over you for some reason unless he wanted something, erm, _bad_ to happen to you...so...he sent Gajeel and I here to watch over you and get you back..." dropping her speech after retelling the detail-drained story Natsu had created for this purpose – ok, so Levy created the story in the first place – Levy hoped that Lucy would just buy the story and go with it without any more questions. Luckily for her, when she looked over to Lucy, a nostalgic look had come over the blonde's face and Levy knew she'd have no problem convincing the girl to go back to school with herself and Gajeel.

Speaking of Gajeel, Levy looked over to her partner. He seemed as though he was quite bored with the whole exchange – that is, if his demeanor was anything to go by. Knowing that it wasn't, Levy decided to nettle the punk-like boy next to her.

"So, Gajeel, did I leave anything out from our alibi, or did I get everything so completely correct that you've been left speechless?" The sense of nostalgia that had taken over Lucy's mind vanished at the obviously provocative statement; what was the girl trying to do, did she _want_ Gajeel to fight with her?

"Keh, minor details, Shorty, minor details. Nothing I can't pound into the Blondie's head along the way back to the school." Glaring at the taller boy, Lucy happened to spot the vase behind them that he had crashed into when they had first come into her home. If _he _was going to be the one pounding things into her head, then she didn't want to be anywhere near the kid.

"Ah, no offence, Gajeel, but I think I can live without the 'minor details'…"

"Whatever Bunny Girl, suit yourself. Don't say I didn't warn ya though when you figure everything out! Oh, and when are you going to come out of that bathroom?" gasping in surprise, Lucy quickly stepped out of the bathroom she had unknowingly stayed in throughout the entire exchange. Out in the open air of her dorm, Lucy could see the open window a room away, right next to the kitchen where all her good pots and pans had fallen to the floor. A bar-like island jutted out from the corner of the room while the open window sat right above the sink, and above the window was the hanging rack for all cooking utensils. At the island, four black stools stood out against the while fiberglass countertop. A table set for four was to the left of the island, five paces away from the fridge to the right and ten paces from the stove to the top right of the kitchen.

A hallway connected the bathroom she was now standing outside of to two open doors; both of which were bedrooms. Past the kitchen was the living room, a small TV sat in the corner of the room on a black entertainment-center with two cupboards on each end for holding movies and CD's. Glass shelves under the TV held the DVD player and radio, the blue lights flickering on and off, telling Lucy that it was still on stand-by. A three paneled window sat opposite of the black 'L' shaped lounge-couch the backed the continuation of the previous hallway to the fenced in porch with sliding door. The tinkling of shattered glass on the floor snapped Lucy's attention back to the two people in front of her who hadn't noticed her trance-like absorption of her home. Both were bickering again about how they had missed lunch; how it was important – for Gajeel – and it wasn't important – for Levy. The fight soon turned ugly when Gajeel brought up the subject of how much Levy weighed; as most of us know, you never ask a girl that. Wincing as yet another lamp hit the floor; Lucy followed their footsteps to her door, having no qualms about going back to school in a pair of shorts, flip-flops, and a tee-shirt.

She watched as the glass pieces scattered out across the floor, one spinning and hitting a small yellow Black-eyed Susan after cutting off a few of the petals with the sporadic movement. Wincing slightly, Lucy remembered the warning Gajeel had delivered to her before they had started to leave; _don't say I didn't warn ya when you figure everything out!_

Walking past Gajeel and Levy in her haste to get away from the damaged flower, she unlocked her front door and ushered the bickering couple out the door, sparing one last glance at the flower on the floor, bathing in the mid afternoon light. Shaking her head, Lucy scolded herself for becoming so superstitious; a flower couldn't mean anything, could it?

After closing the door and locking up her house, Lucy walked after Gajeel and Levy; back towards school, and back towards Natsu.

All the while, her little Black-eyed Susan sat in the sun, cushioned by a pink wildflower with black stripes running up the petals; the piece of glass laid right beside the two flowers, magnifying one of the yellow flower petals it had rolled on top of.

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><p><strong>R&amp;R people! Next chapter doesn't go up until I have fifteen reviews, got it? And while you're at it, you might as well enter one of the two contests I now have going; the one for the first chapter and this one I'm just putting out there now. What do the flowers in the very last chapter symbolize? What is the piece of glass? How does this tie into the story? The most creative guesser will get their own chapter prompt, anything besides lemon, and I'll write it! Thanks a whole lot for your support you guys!<strong>

**This chapter was very GaLe centralized, I love those two! It's so funny to write with them! And you know how Levy kept hitting Gajeel for lying? Yeah…I do that to my friends, hence the inspiration! Don't worry; I'll get to the NaLu soon! What other pairing so you guys want? Mira and Freid? Elfman and Evergreen? Erza and Jellal? Gray and Juvia? Who else guys? Tell me and they'll make an appearance!**

**Utsukushi-hime: lol it's my own sense of dry humor, now let's see how many of you get it! It means 'Princess Beauty'…**

**Kemono-kun: Ok, second part of my humor, this one means 'Beast' hm….'Beauty and the Beast'…**

**Eighth-grader: For those of you who aren't familiar with the way some countries divide up their schools, eighth grade is probably the second or third year of primary school, middle school, or junior high.**

**REVIEW TIME!**

**RedRose43: Thanks! I'm glad that you think that I continue to improve with my writing skills! I'm glad that you continue to review my story, and thanks for the warning about the last chapter, I wrote that part on my iPod at like one A.M., so I didn't get to fix it. It should be fixed by now! Thanks for the review, please review again!**

**Alice Harkey: *chuckles* don't worry, dear reader, you shall find out the curse of the school soon enough, but for now, you'll have to deal with the cliff hangers I send your way!**

**: Thanks for the review; I do intend to continue writing as long as you guys continue to review!**

**Ichijiku-san "Ichi": Yes, yes you are that lazy, my friend. Or, at least, there are days you come off that way! I suppose I'll have to refrain from calling you lazy again least you become like 'THAT' again! ;P**

**xXhelenahillXx: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE REVIEWS LIKE YOURS! I LOVE THEM SO VERY MUCH! I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THEM! Thanks for the constructive criticism, I love other people's ideas and suggestions as well as ideas and praise for my stories! Yeah, first chapter was in Lucy's POV, that's because I was undecided about making this a story or not. Now that I have, the rest of the chapters will more than likely be in third-person because that's my strong point in writing. lol I bet the 'mysterious texter' is way to obvious, no? *smiles gleefully* Just wait, I have more twists and turns planned out for that whole idea, so it is still very important to our story! I'm not really sure where I put two people's conversation into one paragraph, I tend to have a habit of putting on person's speech throughout a paragraph, but if you could point that out to me sometime, then I'd be grateful! Sorry about the short paragraphs, but I like doing those at times, except for when I'm describing something, then they tend to get WAY too long! Good to know you're intrigued by the second chapter! Sorry, but you won't learn what she's 'next' for yet! Thanks, I've been iffy about my writing style, but I've had other people tell me that it's very unique and that they can hear my voice coming through the things I type a lot – people who know me well know how sarcastic I am! And about the plot…is it bad to say that I don't really have one yet? My stories just kinda come together on their own…THANKS FOR THE AWESOME REVIEW! **

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**My story is very bland without your input!**


	4. Rule of Circumstance

**Sorry for being selfish about reviews; having a difficult time right now! As promised, the fourth chapter!**

**I don't own Fairy Tail.**

**Ah, and before I forget, RedRose43 my dear, what do you wish for as your prize?**

**ALL CONTESTS HAVE BEEN CLOSED**

He was angry, oh, was he _angry_! That girl had the audacity to even _try _to out to him? Ha! As if! He was Natsu, _the_ Salamander of _the _Fairy Tail branch in R.E.B.E.L! She couldn't hide from him even if he tried! Though it helped that his fellow "Protector of Lucy" was her roommate, Gajeel couldn't care much less. As soon as he had found out that Lucy was being sent to this school, he had made sure the Makarov put Lucy in the Fairy Tail branch with them; he didn't want a repeat of what happened last time to happen to her again; no, he would never watch her suffer like he did back in Magnolia, he would never watch her smile at him while she died, not ever again.

"Natsu! Quit pacing, it's making all of us jumpy. She'll come back; Gajeel and Levy won't let anything happen to her, ok? Geez, it's hard enough watching you try to be responsible, so please go back to being yourself?" Natsu stopped the useless action of wandering back and forth across the lawn in front of the school; the rainy week had finally subsided and nobody could have been happier than the students; as one could guess, being on an uninhabited island was hard, having an open campus for lunch break was even harder. Being some of the more restless group of teens on the island; The Fairy Tail Gang was enjoying the late afternoon sunshine. Well, most of them at least.

Natsu himself was getting worked up over the fact that Lucy and her two escorts weren't in his sights yet; though he had been told countless times by countless people, he still found himself unable to calm down what-so-ever. That had led to him pacing up and down along the front lawn of Fairy Tail, right near the front gates where he knew Lucy would undoubtedly be dragged through. The rest of the gang had situated themselves under a great oak tree that grew not fifty meters from where Natsu was standing.

Some of them had taken to the tree's lower branches, lounging comfortably while chatting amiably to the members; Bisca and Alzack had taken to an even higher branch to do who knows what, but seeing to as they were engaged, no one really cared all that much as to what the two elder teens were doing.

"Shut yer trap, Popsicle! It's not my fault that she decided that she wasn't going to be cooperative with our plan! That girl…She's just as stubborn as our Luigi is—er, _was._" Having turned around to face the black haired boy behind him, Natsu raised his fist at no one in particular, as if to light it on fire as he would normally do, "Blast it! If only I still had my powers then this wouldn't be a problem at all!"

"Natsu!Get a hold of yourself! We all wish that we were still empowered as we were before, but that is not so under circumstances such as ours. Please refrain from any rash acts; keep calm, Lucy will come around sooner or later. We won't let you watch another person die, especially after Lisanna has died on you twice now. Believe in us as well, Natsu, we are your nakama just as much as we are this Lucy's nakama, even if she doesn't know as we do." Natsu dropped his fist at his side after Erza finished speaking; that scary woman always had a way of getting to him, whether it was her fist of her words, she always had a way.

"Sorry, Gray, Erza, I just don't think that I'd be able to watch something like that one more time. I can't trust anyone else to protect her that way I know I will. Lucy can't die again! Not while I'm here…"

**(Lucy)**

She had been quietly following the bickering couple for quite some time now, and Lucy was very suspicious of their relationship, even though they had told her earlier that it was a strictly partner-like relationship for the gang, otherwise they wouldn't have had any contact with one another what-so-ever.

"I still think that we should have gone the other way, Gajeel! It would have been faster!" One again, Lucy was struck by how utterly comical the relationship between the two was, romantically inclined or not.

It looked something like this; Levy was on Gajeel's left, bouncing every now and again in to a light jog to catch up with her much taller partner. Gajeel, on the other hand, simple continued to walk along the path back to the front gates of the school with a devil-may-care look on his face – said look was dusted with a little bit of annoyance – on Levy's right. He was deftly ignoring all the insults that Levy hurled his way, going for the more peaceable approach, though anyone could see that with his posture, he was going to snap at any moment at the short blue haired girl. Lucy couldn't help but start to count down in her head;

_Ten_: Gajeel started to edge away from Levy, being discreet – or so he thought. Levy followed him, still jabbering in his ear.

_Nine_: Levy began to start to wave her arms around and shout about how angry Erza would be that they were late – Gajeel's hands began to twitch.

_Eight_: Gajeel mumbled something to Levy that made her jaw snap shut before her next argument could even come to her tongue.

_Seven_: Levy's face turned bright red, and despite herself, Lucy found herself nearing the two from her fifteen foot precautionary distance. Huffing, Levy seemed to not notice the blonde's advance, though Lucy noticed Gajeel's garnet colored eyes shift in her direction.

_Six_: Levy mumbled something to Gajeel that made him miss a step; Levy quickened her stride and started to walk in front of him.

_Five_: Gajeel purposely kicked a small pebble at the back of Levy's shin; said pebble hit it's mark.

_Four_: Levy whipped around and grabbed the collar of Gajeel's shirt – Lucy leaned in.

_Three: _Both of their heads got closer…

_Two_: Gajeel smirked; Lucy wondered if her prediction was wrong after all, one didn't just kiss another with that smirk on their face…

_One_: Gajeel hit his forehead against Levy's, hard enough to hurt, but not to cause damage. Lucy felt cheated out of an opportunity for entertainment and a chance to prove her 'not just gang partners' theory right. All her excitement for the moment disappeared in a flash or annoyance.

"Ouch! Gajeel! What was that for?"

"You kept yelling at me Shorty, besides," Gajeel had dropped his voice too low for Lucy to hear, now she felt _completely _cheated out of any some-what romantic opportunities between the two. Once more, Gajeel's words struck Levy dumb and there she stayed, in the middle of the path, while Gajeel walked away, satisfaction and arrogance dominating his every move.

Lucy decided that she wasn't going to miss this opportunity to wheedle out the information from Levy; so she closed in on her poor, immobile target.

"Levy! What were you guys talking about? Gajeel was too quiet for me to hear!" Levy's dazed eyes looked past Lucy, but her burning cherry red cheeks told of the thing on her mind without any reservations.

"He said…he said…" An even darker shade of red took over Levy's cheeks, "He said to wait for tonight…"

It took a minute for Lucy to completely process what the bluenette in front of her had even said; but as soon as she did, Lucy's throat went dry and her eyes wide; so they were in _that _kind of relationship. Clearing her throat, Lucy looked back over to Gajeel, reassessing his character.

He didn't _seem _like the kind of person who would just use a girl, so maybe he and Levy were just that angst type of couple; the ones who were always fighting, but still very much in love with the other. What did they call those kinds of girls? Wasn't it Tsundere*? Eh, something like that.

"Oi, Bookworm, you're not tellin' Blondie what I told you, are ya'? I might just have to get a rain check then, Hime." A squeak and apologetic look from Levy later, and Lucy found herself gob smacked at the way their relationship shifted so quickly from serious to Tsundere. They were already bickering again, and slowly, ever so slowly, Lucy saw the smiles on both of their faces, right under the scowl and meaningless words they tosses at one another. A similar smile wound up on Lucy's face, she couldn't help but think that this was the prime example of how a high-schooler's life should be.

"Mou! Why won't you guys just kiss already? I already know that you're in _that _kind of relationship, are you guys just against PDA's or something?" Lucy ran to catch up with her escorts; she wasn't letting them get away without some kind of torment!

"L-Lu-chan! How can you ask that kind of question? Why would I tell you that?"

"Nah, this Shorty here just ain't any good at kissing. The first time she tried to kiss me, she knocked her teeth on mine."

"GAJEEL! Don't tell her things like that! She's just gonna ask for more as it is!"

"What's wrong with it, Shorty? You ashamed of me?"

"Come on, Levy-chan! Don't be embarrassed! This is how high school life is supposed to be! I want you to tell me all the details, got it? Then I'll tell you all the details in my relationship once I get a steady one, ok?"

"Eh? How many relationships have you been in, Lu-chan? N—Urushi's going to be jealous!"

"Six, and how do you know about Urushi?"

"Oh, He texted all of us to help Natsu protect you!"

"Wait, Levy, who's 'all of us'?"

"Don't worry about it, Lu-chan! You'll meet everyone soon!"

"I still don't see why, the idiotic Salamander should be able to keep one little girl safe…"

"I AM NOT LITTLE!"

"Gajeel, be nice!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's right, Levy's the littlest one."

Both girls yelling Gajeel's name at the same time was the way that they entered the courtyard to meet up with a certain pink haired boy and all of his compatriots.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! So _you're _telling _me _that this guy is supposed to protect me from whatever it was Urushi was afraid of? He has _pink hair _for crying out loud!" To say that Lucy was a little surprised would be the understatement of the century; she wasn't surprised, per say, but livid.

Lucy knew that Natsu had pink hair, who hadn't heard of the little twerp running around, turning the school upside down? Almost _everyone _knew about the little twit; _everyone. _Lucy couldn't help but think that because everyone knew about him, that he was a really bad choice to be her 'guardian', so to speak.

"Eh? What's wrong with my hair? It's always been like this! Your hair is the weirdest; it's yellow! Like a light bulb!" Yes, she was supposed to be protected by some type of evil that may or may not exist by a pink haired, immature, _idiotic _boy who may or may not care about her safety at all; Lucy could see absolutely nothing wrong with being livid.

Lucy, Levy, and Gajeel had finally made it to the courtyard where the Fairy Tail Gang had made their own little 'head quarters'; aka, the oak tree and lawn right by the front gate. As soon as their voices had been heard yelling at Gajeel, the entire gang had surrounded them. Lucy had been shocked to see just how many people were part of the gang; hell, even the student council president _Erza _was here!

Speaking of Erza, she had been the absoloute first person to come to Lucy when she had stepped through the gate; Lucy now understood why the boys scared to death of the woman; she had almost bit Lucy's head off scolding her for skipping out on three days of class, even though she hadn't yelled one bit.

The red head was definitely the brains behind the FTG, even though the head figure seemed to be Natsu, or Gray, anyone could tell that it was undoubtedly this redhead; it seemed that they got more done this way too, because now they were all sitting under the shade of the huge oak tree arguing about hair color.

"What about Levy's hair color? It's _blue _for goodness sake!" Lucy had run over to Levy, pointing at her hair while Levy tried to get Lucy to leave her already messy hair alone.

"Lu-chan! Stop it! Don't you know how hard it is to actually get my hair to stay like this in the mornings? It takes like three bottles of hair spray!"

"Really? _Three bottles_? That's a whole lot of hair spray!"

"Yeah, our poor little Levy can't even get her hair to listen."

"Shut it, Cana! I don't need your criticism either! Besides, what's that supposed to mean?" Lucy looked over at the brunette who was aggravating Levy, she had recognized the name.

"Wait! Are you _the _Alberona Cana, _the _supermodel of the year who started a fist fight a bar and wiped out all the guys without spilling a single drop of you drink? Wow, even you're here at this school…" Said brunette grinned broadly, taking a swig from a colored water bottle near her side.

"Ah, what's this? So you _do _know a little bit about all of us. Tell us, what do you know and about whom, surely you know something about all of use Lucy?" Lucy stopped messing with Levy's hair and settle down right next to her, much to the bluenettes relief.

"Sure, I'll tell you what I know; I'll start with Gray the—"

"What? Why does _he _get to go first? That stupid snowman _always _goes before me!" Lucy opened her mouth to retort to Natsu's whining when Erza hit him on the head, everyone else just sighed while shaking their own.

"Natsu, be polite to Lucy; you'll have your turn."

"Thank you, Erza. As I was saying, Gray Fullbuster was a problem foster child from Russia the supposedly ran away from his foster home and survived for several years in the wilderness of the Siberian Forest and was deemed unfit to return to public because of his new-found instincts and…_habits _from living out there for so long. Natsu Dragoneel, all I've heard about you is that your father was an issue to public security. I always figured that he was a mafia boss or something, so I figured that you were sent here because of the government and other mafia personnel looking for you. Cana I've already explained, Erza Scarlet, she was supposedly part of a child servitude ring; like, _in _it as one of the kids. They sent her here because she adapted a ridged dislike for unruly guys and couldn't return to a society that was full of them. Juvia Lockser, wasn't she a high ranking government official's daughter? I think that she was sent here because of that; for her own protection." Stopping for a breath, she looked around at the again arguing people who had started comparing their life stories as soon as she had stopped talking.

"Gray, what habits is she talking about?" Cana had turned her head over to look at Gray, who was in the midst of arguing with Natsu about his father.

"How the hell would I know?"

"G-Gray-sama, your shirt…" Lucy blinked in surprise, looking over her shoulder at the swooning figure of Juvia; she made a mental note not to get anywhere in-between Juvia and Gray, relationally speaking.

"Oi! Blondie, what about me?" Lucy's head turned to the metal studded teen who she had a growing dislike for.

"You, you are a good-for-nothing jerk, Gajeel. You were sent here because the world couldn't handle your jerkiness."

"Ha! See, Metal Freak? Even Luigi agrees with me!"

"Shut yer trap, Salamander! You owe me for going to pick up Bunny-girl!"

"Oh yeah! That's right! Luigi, come here, I have to talk to you!"

"My name is not Luigi, you idiot! It's Lucy! _Lu-cy_! Got it?"

"Whatever! Just come here!" Rolling her eyes, Lucy got up to follow the hyper black eyed boy, waving off Levy and Erza's concern as to what he had planned; Natsu wasn't even interested in her, they barely knew each other!

**(Erza)**

After Lucy had left, Erza continued to watch the place where they both had disappeared around the corner, she knew that Natsu missed the Lucy that he knew so badly that his heart ached to see this Lucy; she just hoped that he wouldn't do anything rash.

"Erza-san, you don't think that Natsu-san will do anything rash, do you? I know that he misses Lucy-san a whole lot, but I don't think that he can tell the difference between the two; this Lucy is very different from our Lucy." Erza glanced over at the eighth-grader who had come from behind the tree; the soft spoken, blue-haired girl could tell everything on her mind from just a simple feel of the air, it was a bit disconcerting, but Erza, being who she was, brushed it off.

"I don't know, Wendy. I suppose we'll just have to watch over both of them again. He was so over joyed when he saw this world's Lisanna, even though we got ours back from Edolas that one time. I wonder why she didn't come with us…Never mind, that's beside the point. I don't know what he'll do, all I know is that all we can do is stand by him and him know that we're here. He's going to have to face the reality that she can't come back with us, she'd die as soon as she crossed over; such is the Rule of Circumstance."

**Anyone confused yet? I know I am, lol! Anyways, reviews are welcomed, a lot, and so are suggestions for this story! Anyone know what's happening? I'll give you a hint; I never said this was an AU story!**


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